Funds granted for group home

By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- Mercer County commissioners awarded $147,000 for the first of three group homes for the retarded to be constructed on 42 acres in Fairview Township.
The money comes from a fee charged on every mortgage and deed recorded by the county recorder's office.
Bob Beach, executive officer of The Arc of Mercer County/MCAR, said Thursday the remainder of funding for the $294,000 project will come from private sources. His agency serves the mentally handicapped in the county.
He said the group home will be on Coolspring Church Road. Its cost was driven up because plans call for the building of a road through the property so that the homes will not all have the same street address.
This, he said, is to avoid policies of the state of Pennsylvania, which discourage "saturation" of an area with developmentally disabled people. Four people will live in each home.
Beach added that the group home will be the newest of 17 such homes in the county. Although others are located in Sharon, Farrell, Hermitage, Greenville and Transfer, the new homes are being built in rural areas to house clients from rural backgrounds.
The rural environment is more familiar to these clients and they make a better adjustment than if they were placed into a city, Beach said. The neighbors and the township have been cooperative, Beach added, noting that a local church has welcomed the future residents to their services.
Beach said construction of the first home is expected to be completed by next spring.
Habitat home
Commissioners also approved $21,168 for Habitat for Humanity for construction of a home on South Irvine Avenue, Sharon. The funds will also come from the recorder's office fees.
William Good, president of the group's Mercer County chapter, said the house is being built with 95 percent volunteer labor for a single mother with four children.
Also, commissioners failed to take action on changing the classification of the four employees of the Registration & amp; Election Offices, even though they had agreed, in nonbinding mediation, to the change.
Commissioner Brian Beader made a motion to change the classification from technical, clerical and support grade 4 to grade 5. This would have raised the entry-level hourly wage for these positions from $10.88 to $11.13. But his motion died for a lack of a second by either Commissioner Olivia Lazor or Michele Brooks.
The election employees, through their union, United Steelworkers Local 1355-04, had filed a grievance after employees of Children & amp; Youth Services were given a stipend for extra work they had done after being without a director for several months. Commissioners agreed to re-evaluate what Lazor called this "clerical/administrative job" but were far apart on their evaluation of the jobs. Mediation on the dispute has gone on for more than a year.
Lazor said she feared "a ripple effect" through the courthouse if the grade of the job was raised because there are many similar jobs in many courthouse offices.
Director of Administrative Services Bill Boyle said the next step is now up to the union.
New machines
Brooks also announced that 248 of the 290 new electronic voting machines have been delivered with the remainder to be delivered shortly. Brooks said Election Systems & amp; Software of Omaha, Neb., had a surplus of handicapped-accessible machines, so the county received 149 instead of the 105 ordered, at no additional charge. She added that Election Director Dr. Tom Rookey has run one training session for poll workers and has another for next week.
Any group or organization that wants a demonstration of the new machines should call the election office at the courthouse, (724) 662-3800.